How Are Medical Negligence Claims Different To Personal Injury Claims?

Personal injury claims are made when you suffer an injury that isn’t your fault. This could be an injury that arises in any day-to-day situation. For instance, being a passenger in a car that’s involved in a crash or even tripping on a crack in the pavement are both examples of personal injury negligence.

So, it makes sense that an injury that you sustain as a result of a medical procedure should also be eligible for a personal injury claim: After all, it is an injury that wasn’t your fault.

But in truth, it isn’t that simple: there are some fundamental differences between a personal injury claim and a medical negligence claim, and in how you claim for each.

Where did the accident happen?

Traditionally, personal injury claims are for the types of injuries we’ve touched on above: car accidents and accidents in a public place, along with accidents at work, or on holiday and so on. In all these cases, if another person was ultimately responsible for the accident that led to the injury, you’ve got a viable personal injury claim. However, if you’re the person at fault for the accident and it’s proven so, then it typically doesn’t count as personal injury negligence.

On the other hand, a medical negligence claim is only suitable in instances where your injury, illness or suffering was specifically at the hands of a negligent medical professional. Obviously, this will usually be in a medical establishment but may be at your home if you receive in-home care, or in public if the negligent party was a paramedic treating you at the scene.

What do you have to prove?

In both a personal injury claim and a medical negligence claim, you will have to prove that whoever was ultimately responsible for your injury owed you a duty of care and that duty of care was breached, resulting in you suffering an injury.

With a personal injury case, this can be very black-and-white: for example, in a car accident, the responsible driver has a duty of care to other motorists, pedestrians, and passengers to drive in a safe manner. If they breach this by driving recklessly and causing an accident in which you are hurt, you should be compensated as it can be classified as personal injury negligence.

However, in medical negligence cases, although it can be easy to prove that someone is performing your operation, providing you with care, or prescribing you medication owes you that duty of care, proving that it was breached can be much harder. The court will examine whether the care you received fell below the acceptable standard. This is hard to determine, as different people will all have a differing opinion on what the acceptable standard is.

If the opposing party can prove that the treatment provided by the medical professional in question is ‘what ought to be done,’ this is enough to disprove the breach of duty of care, meaning that cases you feel should end in successful claims can sometimes lose.

What actually caused your injuries?

For personal injury claims, causation is often very easy to prove: if you have no prior history of back pain and begin to suffer following your involvement in a car accident it’s obvious the accident caused this pain.
However, again, when it comes to medical negligence, there are far more shades of grey. It can often be argued that you may have developed the symptoms or pain you experienced even if you had had a different treatment or higher standard of care.

It may seem that proving a medical negligence claim is impossible, but if you think you’ve suffered unnecessarily at the hands of a medical professional in the last 3 years, our team can connect you with an expert in medical negligence. Get in touch, and we can walk you through the personal injury negligence or medical negligence process, help you prove your case and get the compensation you’re entitled to.

As every medical case is different, the amount of compensation paid out can differ. Varying factors lead to the final figure include: Level of negligence, earnings missed out on, future losses and more.

Our experienced team of experts will give you an indication of how much you could potentially claim.

We understand that when making a claim it’s important to know what to expect and when to expect it. That’s why we make the process as transparent as possible.

Your solicitor will gather all the evidence and will notify the negligent party of your claim against them. With your dedicated solicitor negotiating on your behalf, you will be kept up to date every step of the way.

Why should you use us?

No Win No Fee

We offer a No Win No Fee* service on all our claims - We assess each claim on its merits with the information provided, which aids us to determine its likely success rate. This takes the risk away from you.

Expert Solicitors

Our experienced solicitors are experts in securing compensation no matter the level of negligence.
We are committed to securing the best possible outcome for you, while providing friendly support every step of the way.

Personal Dedicated Solicitors

On contact, you will be allocated your own expert Medical Negligence solicitor who will be there every step of the way. You will be provided with a direct phone number and direct email address of your solicitor.

We specialise in helping victims of medical negligence claim the compensation they deserve.

We work on a No Win No Fee basis, meaning if we don’t win your case, you don’t pay! Once you make contact, your experienced solicitor will work to recover the maximum compensation you are entitled to.

Whether you are ready to make a medical negligence claim, or you would just like a free conversation with a legal professional, we have experts on hand to give you all the information you need. Take the first step to getting what you deserve by filling in our quick contact form and we will call you back whenever suits you.

The Medical Negligence Experts is the trading name of National Injury Claimline LTD. National Injury Claimline Ltd is regulated by the Claims Management Regulator in respect of regulated claims management activities. Authorisation Number: CRM42188. www.claimsregulation.gov.uk. *Conditions may apply